Dehradun (Uttarakhand): The Dehradun administration has razed over 11 ‘Mazars’ in a single day as part of the state government’s anti-encroachment drive against illegal religious constructions, an official said on Wednesday. The demolition drive took place under the jurisdiction of Selakui police station in the district.
The eviction drive was carried out the Revenue Department from Selakui Town Panchayat with the security assistance being provided by the Selakui Police. The demolished structures were located in different areas of the district include Lal Shah Baba Kamal's mazar at Selakui, one near Shishambada Pragati Vihar drain, another on Pragati Vihar road, one each near near Sidcul gate number 02, Sheri Bagh Bhauwala, and Jagatpur Khadar. Two tombs located at Kanchiwala, one at Shankarpur, one located in the backyard of Sahara Industrial Area, and two tombs at Shankarpur were also brought down.
Kamlesh Upadhyay, Superintendent of Police (SP) Rural said that the demolished religious structures were illegally built on government land. The demolition action was taken by the Revenue Department team. Apart from police station Selakui, Chief Officer of Vikas Nagar, Tehsildar Vikas Nagar, Executive Officer of Selakui Town Panchayat, Thana of Vikas Nagar, the police force from Sahaspur Town Panchayat and Revenue Department teams were also involved in the demolition drive.
SP said that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami instructed to demolish all the religious structures built illegally on government land. The concerned departments came into action only after the orders by the Chief Minister. So far, at least 280 religious structures which were illegally built on government land have been demolished which include 260 Mazars and 20 temples.
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Earlier on Sunday, Jim Corbett Tiger Reservice officials said a Forest department team demolished three illegally constructed religious structures in the Dhela range. Before that, illegal religious structures were removed from the Bijrani range of the reserve. Reserve Deputy Director Digant Nayak had said illegal religious constructions in forest areas were being identified and removed.
